Volunteers try to help cats find way home

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Best Friends Animal Society, the rescue organization that was called in to help the 400-plus cats found at the former For Love of Cats and Kittens (FLOCK) facility, is asking for the nation’s help.

Seven of the cats rescued have microchips implanted, but the registration information is out of date or attempts to reach the family have been unsuccessful.

And there’s no question that the cats are missed by their families.

Kevin, for example, was reported missing from Las Vegas four years ago.

The other microchipped cats were registered in Henderson, Reno, or Las Vegas.

Since there’s a chance the cats’ former families have moved out of the state, Best Friends is asking the country’s help in finding the cats’ families.

“These kitties would be curled up on the bed right now if we had been able to find their families,” Sheri Woodard, Best Friends animal behaviorist, stated in a prepared release.

So far, Best Friends has managed to reunite three cats with their families, two of which were missing for two years.

But unless the registration information is current, giving your pet a microchip is not an effective safety measure.

“The fact that we have not been able to return these lonely cats to their families illustrates why it is so important not only to have your pet microchipped, but to keep registration current, especially if one of your pets is missing,” Woodard said.

Best Friends was brought to Pahrump after Nye County Animal Control took over the facility last July.

Hundreds of cats were found living in unsanitary conditions, resulting in the cats being starving, sick, dehydrated, or in many cases all of the above.

Volunteers from the animal society have since camped out at the sanctuary, nursing the cats back to health in an attempt to reach their goal of making sure each and every one of the cats becomes a spoiled house cat.

Actually, according to Woodard, many of the cats seem to have been house cats prior to living at the FLOCK facility.

“As we continue to work with these cats, many of them are showing us that they were family pets,” Woodard said. “We are urgently asking anyone from the greater Vegas area: Please come to our rescue operation in Pahrump. These kitties want to go home.”

If you are missing a cat you believe may be at the sanctuary, you can contact Best Friends staff member Whitney Jones via e-mail at whitneyj@bestfriends.org or by phone at (435) 644-3965 ext. 4424.

Or you can visit the shelter itself, at 2171 E. Bond Street.

To get there, just take Homestead Road down to Silver Street (directly across the street from the Chicken Ranch), and turn right.

Turn right again when you reach Vicki Ann Road, and Bond Street, a gravel and dirt road, will be on your right.

You’ll know you’ve reached the sanctuary (which is a little off the road on the right) when you see RVs and banners welcoming volunteers, which are still welcome and needed.